Hi Gang! It's been a long time since I did my NEST afterthought.
To be honest, I wasn't going to go at first. I moved across the country and I'm just getting myself into a routine. Lee convinced me to come and laid out a red carpet to boot. I could never resist her.
Never in my days (although I hoped) did I ever imagine that NEST would get to the point that it was actually sold out. We're gonna need a bigger boat perhaps? Just the volume of guests was staggering. We sold out at 185 and could've gone with more if we had the room.
More importantly, The vibe was incredible. I couldn't stop talking about it with my friends. They agreed. The love and support was infectious. "We're a family" yeah, blah blah blah. No, but REALLY!
I've had many convos with veteran NEST friends expressing fear that, as the younger members start coming in, that they would force a change and NEST would evolve into a direction that I never intended it to go. What I saw this weekend was younger members who had been there for several NESTs mentoring the Newbies and it made me feel that the vision would continue- that we're gonna be alright.
When it started, I wanted NEST to be a safe haven - a place where we could go and feel normal. Not Muggle-normal, but TK Normal. This weekend proved that you can put 185 people of all ages, shapes and sizes together for a weekend and it just becomes a love fest.
Thank you my dear friend Lee for picking up the reins and making NEST the extraordinary event that it has become since you took over. Thank you for my dear friends, the Oldtimers, the Veterans for making me feel every year that a year hadn't gone by since we saw each other. Thank you again for the people I talked to this weekend (you know who you are) and told them how amazing they were. Your contributions are so important and makes me feel like the future of NEST is in good hands.
To be honest, I wasn't going to go at first. I moved across the country and I'm just getting myself into a routine. Lee convinced me to come and laid out a red carpet to boot. I could never resist her.
Never in my days (although I hoped) did I ever imagine that NEST would get to the point that it was actually sold out. We're gonna need a bigger boat perhaps? Just the volume of guests was staggering. We sold out at 185 and could've gone with more if we had the room.
More importantly, The vibe was incredible. I couldn't stop talking about it with my friends. They agreed. The love and support was infectious. "We're a family" yeah, blah blah blah. No, but REALLY!
I've had many convos with veteran NEST friends expressing fear that, as the younger members start coming in, that they would force a change and NEST would evolve into a direction that I never intended it to go. What I saw this weekend was younger members who had been there for several NESTs mentoring the Newbies and it made me feel that the vision would continue- that we're gonna be alright.
When it started, I wanted NEST to be a safe haven - a place where we could go and feel normal. Not Muggle-normal, but TK Normal. This weekend proved that you can put 185 people of all ages, shapes and sizes together for a weekend and it just becomes a love fest.
Thank you my dear friend Lee for picking up the reins and making NEST the extraordinary event that it has become since you took over. Thank you for my dear friends, the Oldtimers, the Veterans for making me feel every year that a year hadn't gone by since we saw each other. Thank you again for the people I talked to this weekend (you know who you are) and told them how amazing they were. Your contributions are so important and makes me feel like the future of NEST is in good hands.
